In the effort to get top dollar when selling your home, staging; or the art of showcasing your home is vital. But how to emphasize the selling points of a home while making sure that it is attractive to a wide selection of buyers? There are some basic …

To Mr. Mulhern: Thank you for making a committment to providing us your missives for another year!

To Ms. Holt: Your list is great! It creates some things to do, but often my busy habits prevent me from doing them. And I often defend myself from learning opportunities by staying with unexamined commitments from the past.

When looking at a new year, I will have to deal with many conflicting commitments and defense mechanisms that keep me from making needed critical changes. I hoping for a new year of opportunities to shine light on my inner contradictions; to challenge and unlock the power I need to release myself from self-protectiveness to do things I really care about - like improving the value of city life. It should be a no-fear New Year!

Change is not just trying to alter problematic behaviors. Without challenging my old unexamined commitments that block the way for change, I’m likely to accomplish very few transformational goals.

To Both: Let’s hope that we all have a year of spiritual and political awareness of our contradictory and unexamined commitments of the past and turn that pent of energy into outgoing concern and positive purpose.

Happy New Year?

What would it take for you to really experience a“ happy New Year?” I will offer twelve suggestions:

1. Decide who has been the kindest person to you this year and make a donation to their favorite charity as a tribute to them.
2. Call your best local friend and arrange to go walking and talking in a lovely place.
3. Think of people’s whose laughter you love and send them a few new jokes or funny movie.
4. Do something with an older person. Maybe you could interview an elder and give them copies of their story to distribute to their friends and family (with a photo?)
5. Listen to an hour or two of jazz and improvise a plan for a day in 2008 to introduce a few of your friends, who have never met, to one another.
6. Phone a friend you haven’t heard from for quite a while.
7. Do something with a child. Pick out a child who you could take to lunch or a movie. Or do something else that makes them feel really special.
8. Find a new recipe, double it, and take half to your neighbor.
9. Go to a yard sale, flea market, or consignment shop and find the perfect gift for your significant other.
10. Send someone who won’t be expecting anything a check, and tell them to spend it on something fun for themselves.
11. Remove three books from your shelves and send them to three people who you know are the perfect recipients.
12. Make a list like this for January-December 2008 to extend your happy holidays across the next year.

Margaret Holt